REXDALE, ON — Eilean Donon and Tom Strauss delivered a masterful performance at Woodbine Racetrack on Monday evening to capture the $130,000 Gold Final for two-year-old trotting colts.
Leaving from Post 7 Strauss sent the Angus Hall son directly to the front and the duo never faced another challenge as they reeled off perfectly rated fractions of :28.1, :59.4 and 1:28.3. At the wire Eilean Donon was three and three-quarter lengths ahead of Coventry, and another length up on third-place finisher Grand Sovereign, when he tripped the teletimer at 1:57.1, a personal best and just two-fifths of a second off the track and Ontario Sires Stakes record.
“He’s a very good horse. He’s got a lot of talent and he is a very mature horse,” said trainer Brad Maxwell after the race. “He does it quite easily.”
Maxwell trains the winner of $120,965 for breeders Steve Stewart of Paris, KY and Joseph Taylor of Lexington, KY and their partner Benjamin Taylor of Nicholasville, KY. In five starts Eilean Donon has recorded four wins, with his only off the board finish a fourth-place in the Aug. 3 Gold Final at Windsor Raceway where he started from Post 9.
The talented trotting colt made his debut in the Grassroots Series at Kawartha Downs on July 10 before moving up to the Gold Series at Windsor and Strauss believes that strategy is paying off.
“Brad made a perfect move right off the start not to go to Flamboro. I think that was a bonus,” said the veteran reinsman. “We went to Kawartha, which was a five-eighths track, which would suit him better then a half. I think that was a wise decision and he has been on a roll ever since.
“I think he is going to get better and stronger.”
Sent off as the fans’ third choice Eilean Donon returned $8.80 to win, $4.30 to place and $3.70 to show. Second choice Coventry paid $4.30 on a place voucher and $3.70 for a show wager, while long shot Grand Sovereign returned $7.50 for his third-place effort. The Eilean Donon – Coventry exactor was worth $37.60, and adding Grand Sovereign into the mix for a triactor play earned you $543.20. Favourite How Is That Fair challenged early, but faltered through the later stages to finish seventh.
Monday evening’s Sires Stakes contest was the last on Woodbine Racetrack’s 2003 schedule. Racing shifts to Mohawk Racetrack on Sept. 1 and the provincial program makes it’s fall debut at the Campbellville oval Monday, Sept. 22 with Gold Eliminations for the two-year-old pacing colts.
During the coming break in Gold Series action, Eilean Donon and his peers will have an opportunity to strut their stuff against the best North America has to offer in the Champlain and Campbellville Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack Sept. 1 and 8.